Soleil Ô (1967)

Soleil Ô: Directed by Med Hondo. With Robert Liensol, Théo Légitimus, Ambroise M’Bia, Gabriel Glissant. A native of Mauritania is delighted when he is chosen to work in Paris. However, he is disappointed when he sees racial inequity as blacks are relegated to manual labor while less skilled whites are given preferential treatment.

“I saw this as part of the BFI film festival in October 2017 in London. I was curious because it featured immigration from Mauritania, a country I had visited decades before, to France, who were the colonialist rulers of Mauritania.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe film starts in a really interesting and visual manner with many of the first scenes framing whats to come in the rest of the movie.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe themes in the movie are as relevant now in 2017 as they were back in the 1960u0026#39;s/70u0026#39;s. The acting is acceptable, and one can only marvel at the innovative way the film is made on such a low budget.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI was laughing, crying, dismaying, basically this film makes the viewer go through a gamut of emotions.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI think this film should be essential viewing for anyone interested in colonialism, racism, immigration, and last but not least, African cinema.”